It is known to provide dispenser units in the front doors of refrigerators in order to enhance the accessibility to ice and/or water. Typically, such a dispenser unit will be formed in the freezer door of a side-by-side style refrigerator or in the fresh food or freezer door of a top mount style refrigerator. In either case, a water line will be connected to the refrigerator in order to supply the needed water for the operation of the dispenser. For use in dispensing the water, it is common to provide a water tank within the fresh food compartment to act as a reservoir such that a certain quantity of the water can be chilled prior to being dispensed.
Certain dispenser equipped refrigerators available on the market today incorporate blow molded water tanks which are positioned in the fresh food compartments of the refrigerator. More specifically, such a water tank is typically positioned in the back of the fresh food compartment, for example, behind a crisper bin or a meat keeper pan so as to be subjected to the cooling air circulating within the compartment. Since the tank is typically not an aesthetically appealing feature of the refrigerator, it is generally hidden from view by a sight enhancing cover.
For certain other dispenser equipped refrigerators, the reservoir may be molded, for example, by a process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,850,898, in which a heated extrudate is positioned in a mold followed by insertion of previously extruded profiles that are inserted into the beginning and end apertures of the main extrudate body. The mold is closed and pressure applied through the inserted profiles to expand the main extrudate body to fill the mold cavity. forming an essentially leak-proof seal between the extrudate body and the inserted profiles.
What is disclosed herein is a reservoir useful in a refrigerator water dispensing system comprising one or more of the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, being indicative of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.